By Fred Chukwuelone, FNIPR
Almost everybody today has a social media account or multiple accounts: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X especially. Along with these accounts come itchy fingers and an unending urge to post first, comment first, or “break” the news before anyone else. Many people are constantly in a rush to showcase their daily lives, opinions, encounters, and grievances online. The ultimate goal, in many cases, is to trend, to attract attention, generate reactions, and have their posts seen by as many people as possible.
For those whose pages are monetised, the motivation is even stronger. The more sensational or controversial the post, the higher the engagement and, ultimately, the financial reward. Others simply post to remain visible and relevant in an increasingly noisy digital environment. This behaviour cuts across every layer of society: the educated and the uneducated, the informed and the ignorant, the refined and the uncouth. Everyone seems determined to outdo the other in the race for relevance.
As a result, social media platforms have become flooded daily with all manner of content. While some posts are enlightening and constructive, many others are reckless, irresponsible, and harmful. Sometimes, one begins to wonder whether certain users truly understand the damage they inflict on individuals, businesses, and society through careless posts and manufactured outrage.
You may spend considerable time researching a topic and writing an intellectual piece, only for very few people to read it, especially if it is lengthy. Yet, the same people are quick to consume, share, and urge others to “share and make it go viral” when the content contains little or no intellectual value. Substance is increasingly sacrificed for sensation.
Perhaps the most troubling trend is the growing habit of demarketing businesses and destroying reputations based on half-truths, assumptions, ignorance, or outright falsehoods. A minor inconvenience is quickly exaggerated into a national scandal simply because someone wants attention, sympathy, traffic, or engagement. Facts are often ignored, context deliberately omitted, and judgment instantly delivered by an online mob hungry for entertainment and outrage.
Social media, like every human innovation, has both advantages and disadvantages. It remains a powerful marketplace of ideas where information can be shared freely and voices amplified. It has helped expose wrongdoing, mobilise support for noble causes, and connect people across the world. However, freedom without responsibility inevitably leads to abuse.
The time has come for people to exercise greater restraint, maturity, and responsibility in what they post online, especially when calling out individuals or businesses. Criticism is legitimate when it is factual, fair, and constructive, but reckless accusations and emotional mob attacks can destroy livelihoods and unjustly damage reputations.
If this growing culture of irresponsibility continues unchecked, society may eventually begin to demand stricter regulations and legal consequences for those who deliberately use social media to malign others or undermine legitimate businesses. Sadly, even many who should know better – educated individuals, professionals, and public figures – are equally guilty of contributing to this dangerous trend.
